Archive for category Uncategorized
October 6, 2004 – Last good kids class
Posted by Barniferous in Kawasaki Nova, Teaching English, Uncategorized on October 6, 2014
Today was the official last day of teaching my Wednesday kids class. Georgia will be taking over the class, so we did a team teach so she could get used to the kids. At the end of the class, I got them to pose for a group picture, and gave them all Canada pencils. I then told them in English (and basic Japanese) that today was my last day teaching them because I was moving to Shizuoka. They all looked really sad. This is the first group of kids that I actually connected with as a teacher, so it was sad for me too.
After my next class, one of the staff told me that some of the students from my class had left a message on the whiteboard for me. I went to the kids classroom and saw that they had filled the entire board with a goodbye message for me. (the picture is above)
For the first time in my year of teaching in Japan, I actually felt like a good kids teacher.
Day 5 – We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, or Why Japan is Awesome
Posted by Barniferous in Uncategorized on August 17, 2014
One of the many reasons why I love Japan!
Just to fill you in, Rowan’s getting-ready-for-bed ritual includes locating and arranging her cuddlies on her bed. Grover: check. Cat Bus (the latest addition to the family, courtesy of our Ghibli Museum visit): check. Bear Bear: … Bear Bear: … Bear Bear: oh-oh…
Rowan: I can’t find Bear Bear!
Linda: Isn’t she in Daddy’s [Crumpler] bag?
Ian: No, Rowan didn’t give her to me today.
Linda: I assumed, when I didn’t see Bear Bear with Rowan, that she’d handed her to you to carry.
Ian: No…
Rowan: <<anguished cry>>
We realised that Bear Bear, Rowan’s most beloved cuddly, had been left on a train in a city with 35 million people.
Ian, fortunately, came across the JR (Japan Rail) Information Line for foreign tourists – it was closed for the night but would reopen at 10am the next day. With many assurances from us that we would ring the number…
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July 31, 2004 – Rugby
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English, Uncategorized on August 16, 2014
More NOVA kids! Today I had a group of four x 4 year old boys. It was rough. I am not sure what educational value parents expect their 4 year olds to get out of NOVA kids classes.
After work I watched rugby on TV. Like most sports, it’s a lot more enjoyable when someone takes the time to explain what you are watching. For some reason, the rugby match reminded me of my NOVA kids class.
July 30, 2004 – Birthday aftermath
Posted by Barniferous in Drinking, Uncategorized on August 16, 2014
Yesterday I thought I had a bit too much fun at karaoke. This morning I realized how badly I had overdone it. I was sick in the morning in between birthday phone calls from home. I ended up having to call in sick to work, which is terrible considering that I was out for beer with many of my coworkers the night before. I expect to hear about this later.
(2014 Update) Don’t miss work because of drinking. Also, never miss work because of drinking with your coworkers. That’s just irresponsible.
July 18, 2004 – Tired
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English, Uncategorized on August 12, 2014
Working a late shift followed by an early shift is never fun. I was so tired today. So very very tired. Nothing productive happened after work.
Please excuse the delay
Posted by Barniferous in Uncategorized on July 7, 2014
Unfortunately real life has interfered with my blogging time, so I am running a bit behind on new posts. The goal of this blog is to post entries exactly 10 years after they actually happened. If all goes well I should be caught up again in the next week or two. Stay tuned!
Drinking in Japan
June 3, 2004 pt1 – The 20 Frosty Challenge
Posted by Barniferous in Shenanigans, Team Awesome Sauce, Uncategorized on June 14, 2014
Today was a nice, hot, sunny day. Just after noon we went to the nearby Wendy’s near Mukogaokayuen station. We all had lunch, and Green decided to get a Frosty from the 100 yen value menu. A Frosty is a thick 100 yen chocolate milkshake that comes with a spoon.
Green made a big deal about how delicious his Frosty was, and how he would enjoy eating another. Flounder asked him if he could eat two more Frosties, and Green said that he could. One of us asked if he could eat three more Frosties, which again got an affirmative response. This started a process of escalation, and after a few minutes Green had agreed to eat 20 Frosties in one hour. The rules were clarified: the 20 Frosties would consist of the one he had already eaten, plus 19 more.
Hippie, Code Red and I also wanted to have a frosty each, so I taught Green how to say “22 Frosties please” in Japanese. He walked up to the counter and said “ni-juu-ni Frosty kudasai”. The lady at the counter was naturally confused, thinking that Green actually wanted two Frosties. He tried again, and this time the lady held up two fingers to confirm. Green called me over to translate. I explained in my best Japanese that my friend really loves Frosties, and he is actually trying to order 22. She started laughing and then proceeded to start filling up 22 value size Frosties from the machine. The machine actually ran out half way through, so we were sent to the table with half of our order with the other half coming shortly.
The timer started and Green impressively started eating. He raced through Frosties two to ten in a blur of plastic spoons and ice cream. At the end of the tenth frosty he was starting to shiver, both from the large quantity of ice cream that he was eating, and also from the large air conditioning unit that we were seated under. We agreed to move the challenge outside in the sun. By the time we got outside, Green was looking a bit, well, green. I told him that I would be impressed if he could eat just two more Frosties. He picked up his spoon, and slowly, painfully forced down Frosties number 11 and 12. At this point he said he was done, and the rest of us worked on eating the remainder of the Frosty order.
After a few minutes of letting our food settle, we got up to walk back to Hello House. Green suddenly announced that he didn’t feel well and then proceeded to run behind Wendy’s to unload 12 Frosties at high speed, along with his lunch. This magical moment was captured on video camera by Code Red. Green survived the walk back to Hello House and then proceeded to sleep for about three hours.
Kids – don’t try to eat 20 Frosties in an hour. They look small, but the volume adds up quickly.
May 23, 2004 pt1 – Meiji Shirne and Yoyogi Park
Posted by Barniferous in Team Awesome Sauce, Tokyo, Uncategorized on May 25, 2014
On Sunday there is always something interesting going out near Meiji Shrine. Instead of our usual breakfast routine, we all grabbed convenience store breakfast and got on the train. From Noborito we took the Odakyu line to Shinjuku, then took Yamanote line to Harajuku. At Harajuku we walked out towards the entrance of Meiji shrine.
On the bridge towards Meiji shrine you can find a bunch of cosplayers hanging out. Most of the cosplayers were dressed as anime characters or members of visual kei bands. The costumes were all fantastically detailed. For some reason there were also two people dressed in Nazi uniforms. You simply could not do that in Canada (or the US, the UK, etc etc). There were a lot of cosplayers, but apparently if the weather was nicer there would have been many more.
After the bridge, we toured Meiji shrine, a Shinto shrine dedicated to Emperor Meiji and his wife. Meiji Shrine was under construction from 1915 to 1926, with the main building being destroyed in World War II and rebuilt thanks to a public fundraising effort in the late 50s. The shrine and grounds are impressive, giving you the feeling that you have escaped Tokyo. We were lucky enough to catch parts of a traditional Japanese wedding while we were there.
After the Shrine, we wandered around Yoyogi Park, which is always lively. I lost track of how many bands we saw playing. There were also some girls singing and dancing along with Japanese pop music. Hippie was the only person brave enough to attempt to talk to them afterwards. We stopped for a quick snack at a takoyaki stand. The guys heard “tako” and thought Mexican food (taco). They were a little surprised to see the fried dough balls filled with octopus and covered in sauce. Everyone tried one, but once again Hippie was the hero eating two octopus balls at once. Naturally we made several immature jokes about this.
On the way out of Yoyogi park, we saw the famous rockabilly dancers that show up every weekend. They have leather pants, sunglasses, and crazy pompadours, and dance to loud rockabilly music while drinking beer. If you are ever in Yoyogi park on the weekend, you can’t leave until you see these guys.
The first part of our day at the Shrine and park were pretty fun, but we were just getting started. More to come!
(2014 Update) Check out this post about Yoyogi Park with awesome pictures on a superior blog here: http://lifetoreset.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/rock-and-roll-at-yoyogi-park/
Sakura 2014
Posted by Barniferous in Uncategorized on May 15, 2014
Awesome cherry blossom pictures on tokyo5.wordpress.com – check it out!
Here are some of the photos my wife, kids and I took at 花見 (cherry blossom viewing) we went to yesterday.
We went to a small park, 靖国神社 (Yasukuni Shrine), and 千鳥ヶ淵 (Chidorigafuchi) near the 日本武道館 (Nippon Budokan).
The world-famous 日本武道館 (Nippon Budokan).
The torii entrance to the 靖国神社 (Yasukuni Shrine). We ate “okonomiyaki” for lunch from one of these ‘yatai’ (traditional Japanese food booths).
This old sakura tree in Yasukuni Shrine is the official tree that determines the start of “Sakura season” for Tokyo. When five flowers bloom on this tree, it’s announced that the season has begun.
March 23, 2004 – Trapped in the internet cafe
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, Uncategorized on March 23, 2014
I can`t escape the internet cafe! HELP ME!!! I just came here to check my email and Homestar Runner, but now I have been here for 2 hours straight. Stupid entertaining internet.
The music is really terrible today. For the first hour and a half it was religious choir music. From there it changed to really a really repetitive DJ remix of rap songs mixed with the A-Team theme song. The music is annoying, but there is something entertaining about hearing the word “bitches” played over and over in English while surfing the net in Japan.

















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